So Many Colors
by Laugh.Like.Hell
Summary: I was going to die today.I knew it.I kept running and running and I was so tired, but I couldn't stop.I heard a loud yelp and looked over to see that they'd gotten to Kylie.I howled in mourning but kept running as fast as I could.He was supposed to save me.He was supposed to kill them and then we'd all live happily ever after.My name is Natalie.And in a few hours I will be dead.
1. When was my sister ever normal?

**AN: In case you couldn't tell from the story description, this story will indeed have death and blood and all that jazz. Besides this, So Many Colors is also rated M because of cursing and some vaguely sexual content. No worries, though, if those parts aren't really your style-I'll warn you in the AN at the top of the page in underlined text, so read the fucking author's notes. Also, Savannah is always noticing how different her twin is from herself because they were pretty much the same person before the 'incident' as Natalie refers to it. Anyway, ****this is a story of romance, of regret, of secrets, and of inner struggle, but most of all, it's about family. It's about who you are now, versus who you might've been without your family. This is about Natalie and Savannah, and what drove them apart. If I have offended you...So Many Colors really isn't the story for you. Enjoy!-Alex  
********P.S. I'm always editing random sentences, so don't be surprised if chapters aren't exactly the same each time you see them. It's never anything important, though- mostly just stupid mistakes and inconsistencies on my part. So, if you spot a stupid mistake like saying a character has one color hair and changing it later, let me know and I'll fix it. **

**Chapter 1**

**Made a wrong turn**

**Once or twice**

**Dug my way out**

**Blood and fire**

**Bad decisions**

**That's alright**

**Welcome to my silly life.**

**Perfect by Pink**

**Savannah**

"Where is Natalie, Savannah? We need to get moving!"  
I sighed and stood up, pulling my ear buds out and shoving them into my pocket. I grabbed my white jacket, the one with the pale pink flower design on the back, and slipped it on as I walked out of my room for the last time. I walked past Mom and Dad and opened the back door, heading into the forest on the hidden path that Natalie took to her hiding spot.

Soon, I heard the sound of rushing water, and turned sharply to the right. A lime green hoodie with silver and cobalt rune-designs was draped over a tree branch, and I looked further up that tree to find my sister perched precariously on a thin branch, her long, bright red hair wild around her thin, bony face. As always, the long, thin scar on the side of her face that connected her left temple to her collarbone was uncovered; Natalie wore her many unexplained scars like jewelry instead of hiding them like a normal person. Then again, when was my sister ever normal?

"Natalie, come down from there before you break an arm." I called, and Natalie rolled her pale grey eyes and jumped down, grabbing her hoodie on the way.  
"At least then it would delay the move a little while, Savannah. Oh, well, let's go. I heard there's a forest behind our new house. Hopefully I'll be able to find another good thinking spot." Natalie slipped her hoodie over her head, making her hair stand up even more and covering the bright blue sweater she wore over a neon yellow tank top.

Ever since I can remember, Natalie's always been bolder, brighter, more beautiful, more intelligent, more popular. People seemed to gravitate toward her, especially after she turned fourteen and everything about her became more pronounced. I have auburn hair, and Natalie used to as well, but a few weeks after her fourteenth birthday, it started becoming more red until it was practically the color of red velvet cake. Her eyes went from the soft blue-grey we shared to a steely grey, her cheekbones went from high but not really noticeable to sharp slashes across her face, and any baby fat she had before melted off, leaving her with barely an ounce of fat on her body. A month after that, she came home from a hike in the forest with her new friends Annabeth and Kylie with a long cut down the side of her face. That cut healed into the scar on her face, and our parents were _pissed._ They thought she'd joined a cult or something. Natalie stopped all possible interaction with them after they grounded her until high school, and she got tattoos and piercings and pretty much removed herself from our family. Eventually, Natalie began speaking to us again, but never with the same openness.

"Hurry up, Savannah, the sooner we get in the car the sooner we can get out." My sister said, gesturing impatiently with her long-fingered hands, her hair bobbing as she bounced up and down to keep warm in the frigid air.

"Alright, alright, I'm coming, Natalie. God, you'd think I was walking at the speed of a turtle." Natalie glared at me, her piercing eyes cutting through me.  
"You _are_walking at the speed of a turtle, Savannah Anne. Hurry up before I drag you to the car." I deliberately slowed down to a snail's crawl, and Natalie sighed in frustration and stomped back to me, grabbing my arm and walking quickly forward.

"Ow…Ow…Ow…Jeez, Natalie, do you have to have such long hair? It's getting in my mouth!" I spat some of her too-bright red hair out, wiping at my mouth with my free arm.

"You're just jealous 'cause yours won't grow past your shoulders." She replied without looking back, and I could literally _hear_ her smirk in her voice.  
"At least mine is a normal color." I said while trying not to think about how different we were. Ever since I can remember, I've been the shorter, fatter, plainer one, the one with the short orange-ish hair and common features, and Natalie's been the tall, slim, grey-eyed exotic beauty, what with the sharp cheekbones and chiseled chin. I opened the door to one of the two minivans (it's kinda hard to fit eleven kids into one van) and our little siblings greeted us.

"Hi, Nat! Hi, Sav." Veronica bubbled, and Talia grumbled something unintelligible, her headphones still on her ears. Penelope, Max, Grant, Kaylee, Oliver, Olivia (Oliver and Olivia are twins) and Jesse were apparently hiding from Mom and Dad just like Natalie had hid in the forest, except whenever they were found they were buckled into the car.

"Yo, children! Come out of your hiding places and I'll buy you all ice cream when we get to the new town!" Natalie shouted, and a cheer went up from the house and surrounding trees. My brothers and sisters flooded toward the vans, and within twenty minutes we were all buckled in and on our way to the new house in Washington. Mom, who was driving the van we were in while Dad drove the other, was continuously thanking Natalie for getting all the kids in the cars, even though I was the one who got them buckled in—she just called them all out of hiding. I didn't say anything, though, and busied myself with keeping Penelope and Grant, who were on either side of me, occupied. I succeeded in making Penelope fall asleep, but Grant was a tougher nut to crack. I ended up having to plug my IPod in the stereo and play Mozart to get him to shut up and go to sleep.

After all the kids were asleep, I decided to take a nap myself while Mom and Natalie talked. I was woken up a short while later by screams and squeals as my siblings clambered out of the car. I unbuckled my seatbelt and climbed out, hoisting Max onto my hip since he's ten months old and can't walk upright yet. I glanced around and found that Dad's van and the one I'd just come out of were parked in the parking lot of an ice cream store. Mom, Natalie, Jesse, Veronica, Talia, Penelope and Grant were already inside, and Dad was unbuckling the other children from his van.

"Dad, go ahead inside with the twins. I'll get Kaylee." I said, and he nodded gratefully. I set Max on the seat beside Kaylee as I unbuckled the strawberry blonde-haired, pale grey-eyed girl who looked like Natalie when she was a baby. When Max was snug against my hip again and Kaylee was gripping my hand and toddling along beside me, I headed into the Baskin Robbins. My family was already sitting down, having gotten their order already and claimed the huge corner booth, so I ordered Kaylee vanilla ice cream, Max chocolate and myself pistachio before sitting down beside Veronica.

"Hi Sav! Why'd it take you so long to get in here? It's just a short walk from the car to the door." Penelope bubbled from across the table, sticky pink goo from her strawberry cone all over her mouth. "Wipe your face, Penny; you've got pink stuff all over it. The reason I took so long getting in here is because I was getting Max and Kaylee out of their car seats." Penelope glared at me and rubbed her ice cream deliberately on her face before engaging Olivia in a conversation about the pros and cons of getting sprinkles on your ice cream. I nuzzled my face in Kaylee's neck and muttered,  
"You love me, right Kaylee?" She grinned toothlessly at me and made a bunch of nonsense noises.

"I'll take that as a yes. Hey, Veronica, can I switch cars with you when we leave?" I asked the bottle-blonde beside me.  
"Sure, I wanna talk to Nat anyway." I would never understand why everyone liked Natalie so much, but then again, maybe they just wanted to be like her—striking, gorgeous and mysterious. Speaking of Natalie, she was flirting with a guy who looked like a bodybuilder by the soda fountain.

"Number fifteen, order up!" Yelled some guy behind the cashier register, distracting me from watching my sister and the bodybuilder dude. I stood up, leaving Max with Veronica and keeping Kaylee on my hip, and went over to the counter where the guy who had yelled 'order up' was waiting impatiently with a tray.  
"Thanks." I handed him the money and took the tray in my left hand, trying to ignore the drool dripping down my neck from Kaylee.

As I walked past the utensil and napkin counter to the table, balancing the tray on my left palm, several things happened at once: Kaylee started gumming on the part of my ponytail that had escaped from the right side, Natalie giggled loudly, and another guy the size of a bodybuilder walked into me while talking over his shoulder to his (also bodybuilder-size) buddies. I squeaked and dropped the tray as I flung my hand up to cover my face, slipped on the ice cream I'd dropped, and fell on my butt—all while Kaylee screamed bloody freakin' murder.

"Shi—sheep! Be quiet, sweetie, come one, hush up." I held Kaylee's head to my neck, rocking her back and forth, disregarding the people around me.  
"Crap, I'm sorry, I didn't see you." The bodybuilder who'd bumped into me said, squatting down and extending a hand. I put my hand in his and jumped—his hand was really warm, like he'd left it on a hot stove for an hour! He pulled me up and I realized with a frown that I only came up to his chest.  
"I _am _sorry, I didn't see you." I looked up (and up and up) and met his dark brown eyes, overlooking the jolt that ran through him and said,  
"It's fine, no one really notices me." His expression changed from one of guilt to one of complete and utter shock. I was going to ask what was wrong with him, but Natalie ran over and fussed about how my outfit was ruined.

"Come on, Savannah, I've got some clothes you can wear in my purse." She dragged me to the bathroom with a flirty smile at the guy who had knocked me over, and Kaylee let out a high, keen-like sound as Natalie slammed the bathroom door. She dug in the large green leather satchel over her shoulder and came out with a pair of hot pink pants, a black sequined top, and black sparkly flats.

"No. No. No! I will not change into hooker clothes! I'll just wear these!" I tried to storm out, but Natalie's eye flashed and she blocked my path to the door.  
"Give me Kaylee and go change out of those horrid clothes so I can toss them. It's not like they're cute or anything."  
"But—"  
"Now." She growled, and I quickly handed her the child. I slipped off my tan slacks, now ice-cream-covered white button-up and white flats with the tan bow-ties and handed them to Natalie, who tossed them in the trash with a flick of her wrist. I noticed as I put on the hooker clothes that Kaylee had gone completely silent and was now dozing comfortably against the neck of Natalie. I wondered absently why she was so calm with Natalie but a whining brat with anyone else. After all, none of our brothers or sisters had ever liked Natalie much-probably because she has so much energy, good and bad. Perhaps Kaylee would grow up to be the next wild child of the family.

"Why is that?" I murmured, and Natalie grunted softly in question.  
"Why is what, Savannah?" Embarrassed that she'd heard me, I replied with a simple 'nothing'. Natalie's expression was suspicious, but I pretended to be oblivious as I tugged the shoes on.

"Well, let's go." I said, and Natalie nodded and stepped out of my way. I kept my head down as I headed back to our booth, even though Natalie told me to keep my head high and my outfit would be easier to pull off. I flopped down beside Max and saw that either Dad or Mom had gotten him another ice cream. Mom and Dad stared at Natalie as she snuggled Kaylee further into her neck, and I wondered why. It's not like Natalie hated her siblings or anything. In fact, she was often more hands-on than Dad. I shook my head and stole a bite of Jesse's ice cream. I glanced out the window and saw the bodybuilders from earlier arguing in the parking lot. The one who'd knocked me over was shaking violently, and suddenly, he ran off toward the wooded park across the street. _Weird.  
_  
"Okay everyone, let's get back in the vans, we've still got half an hour until we arrive at our new house!" Mom said, and we all groaned.  
"Now, now, let's be positive! It's just…twenty-three minutes to the new house!" She said, adopting her signature saccharine-sweet cajoling tone. I stood up with a groan and lifted Max off the vinyl seat. "Come on, follow me." I said, and headed for the door. Natalie followed closely behind me, still holding Kaylee to her chest.

"You want me to take Kaylee?" I asked, and Natalie's eyes flashed with a dangerous glint.  
"No." She replied curtly. She marched past me, engulfing me in the smell of pine trees and flowery perfume. I shook my head and followed her, holding Max's pudgy hand on one side and Penelope's on the other. I climbed into the car, helping Penelope buckle her seat belt before hitting the button to close the door. I leaned my head against the back of Dad's seat and fell into an uneasy sleep.

**Review? Pleeeeeeeeeee****ase?**


	2. Seventeen Damn Years

**AN: Bam, beetches! Sorry it took so long to upload the second chapter, but I got stuck. I was originally planning to stay in Savannah's POV for the whole story, but that just wasn't working for me. I'll probably change POV a bunch of times throughout the story, but WTF ever, right? Hope you like it.-Alex**

**Chapter 2**

**Let mercy come**

**And wash away**

**What I've done**

**What I've done by Linkin Park**

**Savannah**

"GET UP AND SHAKE THE GLITTER OFF YOUR CLOTHES NOW, THAT'S WHAT YOU GET FOR WAKING UP IN VEGAS!" I jumped, hitting my head on the car ceiling with a yelp. I held the hair out of my eyes with one hand and unlatched my seatbelt with the other. The van was stopped in some small neighborhood surrounded by huge trees, and Natalie was unbuckling Penelope while singing at the top of her very healthy lungs to her IPod.

"REMEMBER WHAT YOU TOLD ME, SHUT UP AND PUT YOUR MONEY WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS, THAT'S WHAT YOU GET FOR WAKING UP IN VEGAS!" I clutched my hands to my ears and climbed over the console between the unoccupied driver's seat and passenger's seat to get out of the car. The moving van we'd sent here a few days ahead of time was parked behind the van I'd just gotten out of, and Mom was directing the movers where to put things with Jesse and Grant on either side of her. Dad was struggling with the dogs' metal cages while Zoe, Bernice, Killer and Dartemore (the dogs—Zoe and Bernice are black labs and are shared by the whole family, and Dartemore and Killer are Natalie's Doberman-German Shepard mixes that she uses for running and hunting with Dad), and the rest of my brothers and sisters were running around and playing Frisbee.

"HEY, SAVANNAH, COULD YOU TAKE PENELOPE WHILE I TAKE DARTEMORE AND KILLER ON A RUN? THEY'VE BEEN COOPED UP IN THE CAR FOR TOO LONG!" Natalie shouted, drawing the attention of a small woman next door with jet-black hair and a pretty lavender shirt. She was careful to keep her left side turned away from us, but she still looked at us curiously. I sighed angrily and reached up, yanking the ear bud from Natalie's ear. The volume was up so high that I could actually hear the music blasting from an arm's length away, and I tossed the tiny thing away, letting it hang from the wires dangling from her pocket.

"Yes, I'll take Penelope while you go run with your evil hunting dogs. Just quit shouting everything, I want to make a good impression in this town." I said, and Natalie put her hands on her hips angrily.

"Dartemore and Killer are not evil, they're hunting dogs! They're built for tracking and killing prey, but they've never hurt a soul!" She screeched. She's always been very defensive about her dogs.

"Maybe they've never hurt a soul, but they sure hurt my frickin' leg when they took a bite out of it!"

"That was not their fault! You shouldn't have been hiking in the forest when Dad and I were hunting!"

"I had no idea you were in there, and you should've had those mutts trained by then!"

"I'd only had them for two months!"

"You still went to that dog training camp with them before you brought them home!"

"That camp was only for three days!"

"And in those three days you should've had them trained well enough not to eat human flesh!"

"GIRLS!" Mom shouted, and Natalie and I glanced around to realize that there were a ton of people standing on their porches, curious about what was happening. Natalie threw her hands up into the air with a frustrated scream and whistled for Dartemore and Killer, who ran over immediately. Exchanging her heels for flip-flops and grabbing a pile of shiny silver metal from the trunk of the van, she walked quickly toward the beach that was at the end of the street.

"Natalie!" Dad called, and she simply flipped him the bird and walked faster. I turned around and stomped in the other direction, toward our new house.

Natalie

I let out a screech as Dartemore and Killer chased after some birds that had been resting on the beach, kicking at the sand angrily. I could not believe that Savannah, queen of all that was normal and perfect, had actually gotten into an argument with me, and on the sidewalk, of all the fuckin' places to have a screaming match!

"Bitch has no idea the pains I take to be the wild one of us. She can't start being crazy now! She's been the plain, boring, normal twin for seventeen damn years; Savannah cannot start competing with me now!" I said aloud, not caring that an old couple walking past gave me an odd and disapproving look.

"Natty!" A high voice yelled from behind me as someone ran up. I turned around to find none other than Kaylee chasing after me.

"Hey, Kay-kay, you gonna walk with me?" I asked, leaning down to her level. She nodded furiously, taking my left hand and pulling me after Dartemore and Killer. My adorable hunting dogs had chased a rabbit off into the woods, and since Kaylee absolutely loved my dogs, she followed them, and since I was responsible for my lookalike, I followed her.

"Kay, come back here. I can't run in these friggin' shoes." Kaylee just giggled and chased after Dartemore and Killer even faster. I heard their ferocious barking ring out through the trees and surprised human yells and shouts, and cursed like a sailor. I kicked off the white flip-flops that weren't even mine and sprinted toward the sound.

When I arrived at the scene, Kaylee was crying on the ground and Dartemore and Killer were growling at a group of Indian-looking guys who were backed up into a tight circle. "Dartemore, Killer, down!" I yelled, and my dogs whimpered and tucked their tails between their legs, slinking towards me. I slapped them both on the rump and pointed them away from the group and Kaylee, and they padded into the forest. Kneeling beside Kaylee, I kissed her forehead and scooped her up. "You hurt, Kay-bear?" I asked her, and she shook her little head. Just scared, then, even though Dartemore and Killer were trying to keep the group of locals away from her.

"You really shouldn't let your daughter run through the woods alone with two huge dogs that could eat her in one bite." A husky male voice said, and I whirled around, shocked to the bone. The same bodybuilder-looking guy from Baskin Robbins stood less than three feet away, staring at me with adoration in his dark brown eyes.

"Kaylee is not my daughter, and Dartemore and Killer wouldn't hurt her any more than you would." I spat, and marched off after my dogs.

Now somewhat calm, I headed back to the house with Kaylee riding on my shoulders and Dartemore and Killer on either side of me.

"Natty? Are you 'kay?" Kaylee's quiet voice asked. I craned my head around to look at her and flashed her a shaky grin. "Yeah, Kay-kay, I'm fine. You wanna race back to the new house?" She nodded her head vigorously, her reddish-blonde curls bouncing. I smiled, for real this time, and swung her down to the sand. Bending down to about her level, I got in a starting position and counted out loud.

"On three, alright? One…Two…Three!" Kaylee took off running as fast as her little bootie-clad feet could carry her, and I made motions like I was running as fast as I could when really, I was barely even walking. I panted loudly like I was out of breath, and Kaylee let out a loud laugh, running between me and the parking lot of the beach while I pretended to be super slow.

"Hurry up, Natty! You so slow, a turtle faster!" At that, I ran full speed at her and threw her over my shoulder, keeping my hands on her ankles.

"Am I slow as a turtle now, Kaylee Annabeth Johnson?" I asked her as we neared the new house.

"No! Lemme down, Natty!" She shouted through her giggles.

"Hmm…Let me think about that…No!" I answered, slowing down since I didn't want to trip over one of my siblings, a few of which were still playing Frisbee fetch with Bernice and Zoe.

"Come on, Natawie! I wanna play with Bernie and Zoe!" She begged, and I sighed dramatically and set her down feet first. "Tank ewe!" She shrieked before running off. I smiled and trudged toward the house. It was a two-story that looked pretty big, and it seemed that most of the rooms had balconies. I hoped that I had a room that faced into the forest, so that I could go out on the balcony in the morning without having to worry about creepers watching me. I stepped into the house and was surprised to find a small foyer that led into a huge living room with almost floor-to-ceiling windows.

The movers had already set up the several grey couches and beanbags that Mom and Dad had picked out specifically for their size and durability (you can't exactly fit eleven kids on one couch), and the movers had also put the window benches in as well. The walls were painted a pretty light turquoise, and an iron staircase led into the ceiling.

To the left was the kitchen, with black marble countertops and tan wooden cupboards. I headed toward the hallway, and three plain white doors led off to the right. Another plain white door ended the long hallway, and on my left, a short hall led to the empty dining room.

I walked up the stairs that stood to the right of the hall to the dining room and found myself on the second floor, almost exactly like the one below, only without the room at the end of the hall and without the dining room hall. Mom was taping pieces of paper with the names of my siblings on them to the doors.

"Ma, where's my room?" I asked her, and her only response was a jerk of the head toward the end of the hall. At the very end of the hall, a piece of paper with Savannah's name and my own written on it in my mom's curly script was taped to the door. "Dang it. Why do I have to room with her again?" I asked the wall. I breathed deeply and opened the door to find Savannah setting up her side of the room.

Mom and Dad had arranged for the house to be painted in our specified colors a month before we moved in since Mom hated the smell of wet paint, and Savannah had chosen dark green, while I chose a really bright turquoise. Since we were sharing the room, its shared wall was sharply divided down the middle by a black line. Mom knew us so well. I glanced up and squealed happily when I found a loft around the whole room, with the ladder near the bedroom door. A short white rail bordered the edges. The same light brown wood that spread through the rest of the house was the same in here, but I figured that once I found my box of random-patterned carpets and tossed a few cushions up on my side of the loft, it would be alright.

A pair of French doors led out onto the forest-facing balcony with the black dividing line in the very center of the two doors, two huge windows on either side. Our beds were already set up, as was all the furniture, and boxes were piled everywhere.

I flopped down on my black bean bag with the randomly sized white skulls and looked up at the ceiling.

"Hey, Natalie?" Savannah's quiet voice intruded on my ceiling-staring. I lifted my head and mock-glared at her.

"You have just interrupted my very serious staring contest with the ceiling. You must have a good reason for intruding upon this momentous occasion." I said, completely straight-faced, and she cracked a small smile.

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for what I said earlier. Please don't be mad at me?" She said. I threw my head back and laughed loudly. She looked a little hurt, so I said, "Savannah, I'm not mad at you. If anything, I'm happy, because you stood up to me, and that's not really an easy thing to do. Mind if I put on some tunes? It's deadly boring in here." I hoped she wouldn't call me out on not apologizing, because if she tried to force me to apologize, I would blow up at her again. I don't do apologizing.

"Nah, go ahead. As long as it isn't too obnoxious." I smirked. To Savannah, everything besides classical was basically considered obnoxious. I scrolled through my IPod, found my nineties playlist, and docked it. American Idiot started playing through the tiny speakers. I dove for the box labeled 'speakers and cds' and pulled out the surround sound system, plugging it in so that Green Day blasted through the room. I grabbed my four-piece screwdriver and started putting up the shelves to hold the paint-splattered speakers up. Savannah frowned at me, but went back to unpacking her boxes.

About half an hour later, when about half Savannah's boxes were unpacked and I'd hung up all the shelves for my speakers, Kaylee came toddling into the room with a message from Mom and Dad: go to the living room. I hit pause on my IPod and Savannah and I followed Kaylee to the living room, where apparently everyone was gathered. I put a hand on the back of my favorite futon as we walked into the living room and hopped over the low obstacle, landing beside Veronica with a grunt. Once Savannah and Kaylee were seated, Mom and Dad stood up from their seats on the ugly floweredloveseat where no one but them ever sat. Dad put his fingers to his lips and whistled shrilly, and all the chatter died down.

"Okay, everyone, I know you're not going to like this, but I would greatly appreciate it if you would keep your groans and comments to yourselves. In other words, be quiet until I finish talking. So, you know how I homeschool y'all?" We all nodded. Mom hated the American schooling system, so she homeschooled us all while she worked part-time as an interior decorator. "Well, that's about to change. I need to work full-time instead of just part-time, because my only other worker just moved to Tennessee to take care of her sick mother, and I can't work full-time while homeschooling all of you. I've hired a nanny to get y'all off to school in the mornings and take care of you in the afternoons until I come home, but she can't be here for a couple weeks because of conflicting schedules. Be nice to the nanny when she gets here, she'll already have enough to deal with taking care of all eleven of you, and remember the family rules: be respectful, do your chores, and don't talk back. Now, shoo! Go unpack; Alexander and Gabriella are coming to help out until the new nanny arrives. They'll be here tomorrow morning to get you off to school." We all immediately headed for our rooms, eager to please our oldest brother and his wife. Alex was like a huge kid and let us have junk food whenever we wanted, and Gabriella was hilarious and made all our favorite foods. Gabriella also had a child from a previous marriage, and Olivia loved her since they were the same age.

"So, what do you think school's gonna be like?" Savannah asked as we went upstairs.

"Dunno, never gone to regular school. Remember, Mom decided before she even married Dad that she was going to homeschool her children if she ever had any. Speaking of her children, why do you think they put all the boys in the same room? That spells disaster in capital letters." I said. I dove into the pile of randomly-patterned pillows on my bed while Savannah took a seat at her glass-and-steel desk. In the same place on my side of the room was my antique black dressing table.

"I don't know. Maybe Mom decided to save herself the trouble of going to a bunch of rooms to make sure the boys weren't setting fire to something." It was possible—those boys did love fire. I leaned off my bed toward my dressing table and hit play on my IPod, and another playlist started. Dancing a little, I mouthed the words to Painting Flowers while unloading my makeup from a box onto the dressing table. Savannah just shook her head and continued hanging up her clothes in her closet.

"Natalie! Savannah! Could you feed the kids lunch? Your father is at work and I'm headed to a client's house!" Mom yelled over my music from the doorway. I let out a loud groan just to show her how much I didn't want to but stood up anyway.

"Sure, Mom, we'll make lunch. Would you like to go out on a date with Dad after you get off work and Natalie and I will make dinner as well?" I tossed a warning look at her, but she simply ignored it.

"Oh, would you? Thank you so much girls!" Mom kissed both our cheeks and disappeared, presumably to her room to change into her infamous 'work clothes'.

"Seriously, Savannah? You had to go and tell Mom that we would take care of our brothers and sisters for, " I glanced at her watch, "seven hours and forty-five minutes?! Oh my god. Alright, fine, only you get to cook lunch. I'll get them all ready to go to the local beach, and you pack their lunches. God, I can't believe you." I ranted. Savannah just walked past me blankly and went to pack their lunches. I made a face and grabbed my swimsuit and the bag I kept for when we all went to a park or whatever on a whim. It held sunglasses, sunscreen, a change of clothes, lip balm, lotion, baby wipes, tissues, and several other necessities for simply being away from home with my crazy family. I called it my 'death valley prep' bag, since there were also snack bars and bottled water. After changing into my swimsuit and slipping a lime green and neon blue sundress and some heeled sandals on, I went and got Penelope, Kaylee and Olivia ready for the beach. I sent Olivia to tell Talia and Veronica to put their swimsuits on and put Penelope in charge of finding the dog's leashes. With Kaylee riding piggy-back style on my back, I gathered the boys' swim trunks and handed them to the rowdy little boys who were playing tag in the living room.

"Go change in your room, boys. We don't need our neighbors thinking we're even crazier than they already do." I pointed them to their room, and with much groaning and muttering, they went.

"Natty! Down! I wanna be ballerina!" Kaylee shrieked.

"Oh, you do now? Okay, I'm game!" I answered, bending backwards into a half backbend to let her down. She lifted her chubby little arms and spun clumsily into the kitchen, and I followed suit.

"Natalie, what are you doing?" Savannah asked as I attempted to do the same moves I had when I was in ballet as a six-year-old in the middle of the kitchen. Needless to say, I could barely remember half the stuff, and since I was wearing heels, I kept stumbling into the island. It was fun though, so the bruises on my torso were worth it.

"I am performing ballet. I'm a professional at it, after all." I answered, still whirling around with my arms out so my skirt flared like a buttercup. When I finally stopped spinning around like a ditz, I realized that Savannah was standing on the other side of the island, spreading mayo, mustard and—obviously for Jesse, since he loves that stuff—ketchup on pieces of bread to make ham sandwiches. Savannah noticed me glaring at the pale pink meat and smiled slightly.

"Don't worry; I put corned beef on yours." Even though I was seventeen, not eight, I clapped my hands together and jumped up and down delightedly. I loved corned beef—it was my absolute favorite sandwich meat, and had been ever since Alex made me lunch one day and we ran out of bologna, which was my favorite meat and the only one I would eat, and he tricked me by telling me the corned beef was bologna. Dashing around the counter, I wrapped my arms around Savannah's waist and kissed her cheek. "You're welcome, Lee." She said through her laughter, hugging me back. I stiffened—Savannah and I hadn't used pet names for each other since the…incident. Still, I wasn't about to waste one of the few hugs my twin gave, so I ignored her calling me the nickname she hadn't called me since when we were fourteen and squeezed her tighter.


	3. Stupid Genes

**AN: Yes, I know it's short. Bite me. At least I finished the damn thing. Enjoy the product of my numb fingers.—Alex (Why, yes, I am in quite a hostile mood. Thank you for asking.)**

**Chapter 3**

**Savannah**

**Stupid Genes**

"Alright, enough of this mushy crap. I gotta go fetch the children." Natalie said, sighing dramatically and floating in her graceful little way out of the kitchen. I turned back to the sandwiches, slapping the top pieces on and wrapping them quickly in Saran wrap. I stacked them inside the two huge vintage picnic baskets that Natalie had picked up from Goodwill a couple years ago, along with a bag of apples and the plastic containers filled with colorful salad, coleslaw, and freshly cut vegetable sticks. Throwing in a huge bag of Mom's infamous homemade chocolate chip cookies, I closed and locked the basket. Then I grabbed the pale blue capris, white t-shirt, gladiator sandals and my white one-piece swimsuit from the counter where Natalie had dumped the neatly folded clothes and changed quickly in the bathroom adjacent to the kitchen.

I tied my strawberry-blonde hair back from my face with a thin, dark blue-spotted white scarf, touched up the foundation that covered my freckles and pimple scars, and walked back out to make sure my siblings didn't start a riot or set any fires.

"Savannah! You ready to go to the beach yet?" Natalie's high-pitched voice echoed through the house.

"Yes, just one moment!" I called back, hating the way my voice was so manly compared to my sister's angelic voice.

"Right, well, I'm gonna head toward the beach. I've got the boys and Kaylee, you get the girls!" A door slammed, and the giggling and shouting I'd heard from the foyer was gone. I sighed and grabbed the baskets, calling Talia, Veronica, Olivia and Penelope down as I pulled on a white windbreaker just in case it got cold. My younger sisters came flooding down the stairs moments later, all clad in brightly colored knee-length sundresses that had obviously been altered to fit Dad's rigid dress code rules.

"Everyone ready to go? Anyone need to go to the bathroom real quick?" I asked, and they all groaned, Olivia following her older sisters' leads. "Alright, alright, let's go then. Come on." I continued, unlocking the door and stepping out, shivering a bit from the chilly air.

"I hope we see some hot guys!" Veronica giggled to Talia, who responded, "Yeah, Indian is so in this year."

"Totally in! I mean, Asian guys are cute, but they're just not as exotic as Indians are."

"Definitely not. Although, that hot guy from that one anime show? He's kind of cute."

"He's a freakin' cartoon."

"Doesn't mean he can't be cute!" And so on they went. They quickly passed us, eager to catch a glimpse of some hunk of Native American guy, so I was left with Veronica and Olivia. Olivia was pointing at things and naming them as she always did, and Veronica walked silently and stared up at the sky. Veronica's dream was to one day become an astrologist or a meteorologist, since she loved studying patterns in weather and examining the stars with the ancient telescope Mom had found in her own mother's basement when she went to arrange Grandma Brown's (Mom's maiden name was Julianne Faith Brown, but she took Dad's name—Wesley—when she married him) funeral.

"Savannah? Can Ver and me go ahead to the beach? I'm tired of walking." Olivia's small hand tugged at my own as spoke quietly enough that I had to bend down a little to hear her properly.

"Sure, Olivia. Go ahead." Veronica—or Ver, as she was known by the younger ones—and Olivia let out a joyous shout and ran towards the grey-sanded beach with the bluish-grey waves that reminded me of the eyes I saw whenever I looked in a mirror. I reached the beginning of the sand a few minutes later, using my shoulder to nudge my sunglasses down over my eyes since the sun had come out from behind the clouds it'd been behind earlier in the day.

Once the two blue-and-white-checkered picnic blankets were spread out and the food set up like a buffet, I put my fingers to my lips and blew, just like Dad had taught me all those years ago when I had strep and I was in charge of all my siblings for the day. Every last one of them, even Natalie, who was sitting on a boulder in the waves about twenty feet from shore, stopped what they were doing and looked toward me.

"Come on everyone, lunch is ready!" I called, and a cheer went up as they trampled toward the line of Tupperware and Saran-wrapped sandwiches. I stepped to the side and leaned against a tree, waiting for them to get their food and sit down.

"You know Savannah, you don't have to wait for them to finish making their plates. You're bigger, just elbow through." Natalie said from her seat on the blanket nearest to me. She'd already grabbed her plate of food, loading it with tons of fruits and vegetables. She'd also chopped the sandwich I'd made her in half and removed some of the meat so it was basically just a little bread and some meat. Every time I saw her eat, I figured out why she was so skinny—she barely ate anything!

"You know Natalie, a bit of real food won't kill you." I said as I took the sandwich I'd made for myself from the almost-empty picnic basket that had been deserted in favor of the cookies.

"No, but it will make me fat." Natalie said through a bite of celery stick. I just shook my head and went back to loading my plate up. As I walked past Natalie to sit next to Max and Kaylee—who were rolling a colored water-filled ball back and forth between them—her phone burst out in one of those loud oldies rock songs she likes so much—I think it was something by the Cockroaches or Tarantulas or something like that. I tried really hard not to talk to Natalie about music, because if anyone even mentioned music around her, they were very likely to get a several-hour-long lecture about what types of music were crappy and what were good. Anyway, Natalie picked up the phone, answered with her signature 'no, she's dead, this is her doppelganger', and the caller must have said something alarming, because her steel eyes flashed and she stalked off into the trees, leaving her plate behind. I just shook my head and went back to my food, because really, when did Natalie ever act normal?

**Natalie**

"What did you say the new pack leader's name was, Anne?" I asked, sitting on a low tree branch and hugging my arms to my torso in an attempt to ward off the chill of the shade.

"Damon. And he's horrible, Nat! He's already made passes at Kelly and Jen, and Fallon is terrified to even go within twenty feet of him because of what he did to one of his packmates!" Anne's normally calm, collected voice was frantic and rough with fear, and in the background I could hear quiet sobs.

"Okay, Anne, before you go on, take a deep breath. Inhale and let it out slowly." I heard her comply, and when she continued, she sounded a bit more like her normal self.

"Okay. So, one of Damon's packmates, I think his name was Oliver, asked Damon if perhaps they should wait to speak with the Alpha, not just the Beta, before they took over our pack, and Damon phased and mauled him to death! Oh, Natalie, it was disgusting!" I let out a stream of curses, putting my hand over the mouthpiece so Anne wouldn't hear. This meant that I would have to fight Damon to get my pack back, and Alpha fights were never pretty. Fights for dominance in the shapeshifter world were always a fight to the death, and no rules except that it had to be one-on-one.

"Right, well, I have to go, but I'll be there tonight. Don't tell anyone I'm coming, yeah? Not even Fallon." I asked, praying that the eleven-year-old brunette would follow my orders—I didn't want to have to command the poor child.

"Yes'm. Bye-bye, Natalie!" Her cheery voice clicked off with a static buzz, and I shoved the phone into my back pocket with a sigh. I didn't want my pack to have to deal with Damon; actually, I didn't want to deal with him myself. I knew that my dominance would be challenged when I took over Jeffrey's pack, but I did not want to deal with the consequences that came with being Alpha over such a large pack. Twenty-four wolves trained to fight in teams and fight well was nothing to sniff at, especially since the average pack size was seven to fifteen.

I slid down from the branch, landing smoothly on my feet. After mussing my hair, tearing a few small rips in my clothes, and ducking through a leafy bush to make myself appear like I'd tripped a few times in the forest like a human rather than the shapeshifter I was. I wished once again that I could just be normal, human, instead of an effortlessly graceful monster in a human skin.

Savannah was so lucky—she hadn't gotten the gene that triggered shapeshifting, as I'd found out when Jeffrey (the former alpha of the pack I took over when I first phased, which consisted of Kylie, Annabeth, Roger, Carrie, and Jeffrey himself) told me the stories of shapeshifters. When one child inherits the gene, none of their siblings can get it, which meant that I was the only one who would ever have to deal with all this supernatural bullshit. Stupid genes.

**Oooh, a twist! Review and tell me what you think!**


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